montauk wreckage- a lesson for us all

Hi,
I'm not quite sure if it is cool to refer to another forum, yet this one has made me ponder my own safety while out in the suds...

If you Search "montauk wreckage" in the Stripers Online forum you will find this (an excerpt follows):

I lost my cell phone so I sent Paul an email. It simply said ‘if your wipeout was a 1, mine was a 7 or 8’. Here’s how I rate crashes. 10 you’re dead, 9 alive but seriously injured, 8 injured but a full recovery is expected, 7 only minor injuries but major equipment loss and damage. I’ll stop there because I concluded mine was a 7.

One of the outdoor magazines I use to read while growing up had a segment “This happened to me”. This did happen to me and it could have been a lot worse. Paul had a wipeout coming in at Turtle Cove in Montauk. It was just one of those things where his kayak rolled just as he was getting ready to get out. Other than a reel being ground into the sand nothing happened. He decided to head home since the forecast for the next day was ugly. We had booked a room for the night and I figured I’d hit the water for the evening bite, hoping some bass would show up. Also while kayak fishing might not be good in the morning a change in the weather often triggers a striper bite. We had missed them in the morning. So after Paul left I launched and bottom fished a bit to kill time. I got several small sea bass then started seeing boils between the rip and the cove. A long cast produced a nice striper that got off before I could get it to the kayak. Next cast was a small blue. The following cast another striper. Since I was near the rip I looked out towards the ocean to check my position and to my horror the current had already moved me into the path of the big breakers that had formed in the rip. I was in the worst possible place I could imagine. The waves were 8-10’ and one was heading for me and I was broadside. If I couldn’t get perpendicular I was in HUGE Trouble. I hit the throttle on the Torqeedo and steered into the oncoming wave. I was at a 45 degree angle as I crested over the top of the breaking wave and did a slow roll that seemed to last forever. Everything had slowed down. I still had the rod in my hand with fish attached. I dropped the rod and tried to flip the kayak but another wave hit me. I was pulled under for a while. I’d guess about 30 seconds. I realized there wasn’t any way I was going to flip the kayak, get on top and then get out of there as the waves were driving the kayak towards the rocks under the light. Surf fishermen on the rocks were yelling to me to head out as a boat had seen me go in and was coming to pick me up. So I swam out abandoning the kayak. I needed to get to an area where the boat could pick me up. The boaters pulled me in and we got out of there as it wasn’t safe for a boat. They told me they were with the Coast Guard and were out fishing. They asked if I was OK. I was other than I was exhausted. They complimented me on my gear. I had a full vest on, Mysterioso underneath and Kokatat Tempest jacket and pants. After my near miss last year I had decided I would only wear a full vest in the ocean for now on. This decision probably saved my life. After I caught my breath the coast guard guys asked what I wanted to do. We discussed it as we watched my kayak being pounded on the rocks. Surf fishermen tried to get the kayak but it was too dangerous. I asked to be dropped at Turtle Cove and swam in. They headed back to port and when I came back to the parking lot from ascertaining the situation from the rocks they were there. They suggested I wait until the morning’s low tide which was at 8AM and definitely wear Korkers. That’s what I did and I managed to salvage some stuff.

Getting back to my 7 classification I was not injured in the wipeout. My back is wrecked but I had thrown it out Friday, and couldn’t get to the Chiropractor until Tuesday anyway. It progressively got worse and the long drive back to the shop did it in. I was able to retrieve my milk crate, Torqeedo motor, battery and mounting accessories (I haven’t determined if they survived yet), game clip, rudder slides, seat, Visicarbon, bag with lures and assorted gear and a few other items. Here’s what I lost; prescription sun glasses, cell phone (which I didn’t like), Torqeedo controller, TFO fly rod with reel, TFO spin rod with Penn Battle reel, lip grip, paddle, dry bag with hat and nightlight and kayak.

It could have been a lot worse as I’m safe. Like I said above having a real vest was the most important thing along with proper clothing. Besides staying far from the rip there isn’t much I’d do differently. My glasses should have been attached with tightened Cablz. If my fly rod was tethered to the crate, not just in the Scotty Powerlock, I might have the reel and pieces of the rod to send in for warranty replacement. In the future I’ll have my cell phone on my person rather than in a hatch. Other than these things I don’t know if there’s anything I could have done differently. I could have had my Korkers with me (as I usually do when I go to Montauk), but that’s minor. I had removed cameras and such and I’m glad I did as I don’t know if the cases for my video and regular camera would have survived.
At least I know someone in the business where I can replace a lot of the stuff at a discount.


Be safe out there...
Iverfish

Being complemented on wearing the right gear and being alive to talk about it definetely is the way to be SAFE.  Glad that you are still with us!!!!

Glad to hear you made the right decision and made it out safe.  All of your material losses can be replaced.

I learned my distracted yakking lesson in a much less threatening situation. Never the less it stuck with me.  I was watching my GF paddle near the mouth of the Russian river, she was in a pretty safe spot and it was a pretty flat day.  As I watched her to make sure she stayed safe the current slowly pushed me up against the beach inside the the mouth of the river.  I looked up just in time to see a row of 2 ft waves come around the corner and didn't have time to turn the yak into them.  I promptly got dumped into 3 ft of water, jumped back on and paddled out a bit only to hear the little kid knee deep about 20 feet from me yell "hey mister I saved your hat" and then he walked out and handed it to me.   We hadn't planned on getting close to the mouth so neither of us was wearing immersion gear but we did have PFDs on.  Embarrassing but a good lesson I never forgot.

Thanks for sharing.

just read this and I'm very glad your alright. pretty scary and is a eye opener!
the power of water can be so underestimating at times!

Being a total yak newbie and having survived a near fatal drowning experience as a kid, this stuff really freaks me out. I'm not "afraid" of being on the water, but I do have a very healthy respect for all bodies of water...I'm just starting in this yak adventure, but you bet I'll be redundant when it comes down to safety...thanks for sharing that experience and remind us that we need to be aware/alert constantly while still having great fun out there

After my near miss last year

This part bugs me.  Really?  How many of you regularly have near misses?  Something just doesn't feel right here ...

-Allen

I was a similar situation on my last trip at Bean Hollow with Tigerfish and Fishunter. I was the first to launch  and timed it bad. I took some swells all the up to my chest and face and I was pushed back into shore with some exposed reef all around me (I was lucky enough to avoid them). But what kept me upright was having a paddle and bracing on each side and keeping my bow facing the white wash as I was being pushed backwards. I'm glad I took a safety surf class with HMB Kayak Company and Aquan Sports.

IMO: the skill of bracing with a paddle is important and vital to a situation like this. Learn it and practice it. 

*And it helped me even better because I always land stern side when the swells are up - something I learned from the Linda Mar Locals.

After my near miss last year

This part bugs me.  Really?  How many of you regularly have near misses?  Something just doesn't feel right here ...

-Allen

That's a good point, would like to know the conditions of the first near miss. I've had 3 situations that I'd consider to be near misses in 6 years of kayaking, only 1 in the salt. It is much easier to learn from a situation when you physically experience it rather than hear peeps talk about it. Doubt he made the same mistake twice and I'm confident that anybody who frequents NCKA are very safety conscious.

Glad your ok man, I only dream of finding stripers in saltwater, hope you get back out there soon.

I had a near miss on Thanksgiving Day back when I was a teen.  We were on a Hobie Cat out of Granite Bay.  My uncle's boat and he took me, my older brother and his kids, my two cousins.  A wind picked up, the waves built to about 2 feet.  A wave broke the tiller and then a hatch came off a pontoon.  The boat capsized.  No one had any PFD on and in fact, I had on a heavy coat with the hood tied tight under my chin.  But before the boat started to have troubles, we got close, maybe 150 yards, from the Granite Bay beach.  My brother jumped overboard and swam for it.  Then the wind was too strong and my uncle decided to try and run with it and head to the other shore.  It was mid-lake when the tiller broke, we took on water and turned on the side.  I was standing on some guy lines, hanging onto others trying to keep my head above water.  It wasn't going to work for long.  I couldn't get the jacket off as I could not untie the hood with my cold fingers.  I couldn't get my shoes off either and their weight was pulling me under.  Just as I started to go under, something grabbed me.  A Coast Guard boat had come upon us and with a long pole hook, I was snagged and dragged aboard.  Once everyone was plucked from the water, they bee lined it back to Granite Bay.  That boat was launching off the waves and with every wave we crested, the boat would slam back down to the water.  Felt like we had just beached it on the concrete ramp it was such a violent hit.  Over and over we kept launching and slamming into the water.  After finally making it back, a truck took us to the gate house where we were able to warm up a bit.  We left there and headed to my uncle's home and got ourselves dried and in warm clothes before heading to my parent's house where we were to all have our Thanksgiving meal.  The lucky thing was; my uncle had almost decided to take the younger nieces and nephews instead of the teenagers.